Profile

Dr Emma Jayakumar

Emma Jayakumar is a Research Assistant on the ECU/Digital Child industry partner research project with LEGO Asia Pacific, Digital safety and citizenship roundtables: using consultation and creativity to engage stakeholders (children, policy influencers, industry). Emma will apply established qualitative research techniques and complementary creative skillset working with, and creating work for, children and families.

In 2018, Emma was awarded the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) research medal for most outstanding research thesis for her practice-led PhD research project Toward a more engaging operatic genre for children, which included the investigation of child-focused methodologies applied to the creation of new music drama for audiences of children. 

Emma has applied her PhD research methodology and practice for three professional children’s music drama commissions: The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (2020) for WA Ballet and Awesome Festival; Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (2021), a children’s opera adaptation for MusicBook Stories and Perth Winter Arts Festival; and the premiere of a full length opera Our Little Inventor by the West Australian Opera (2022).

Earliest digital memory
Playing arcade games like PacMan and Space Invaders in the 80s with my brothers. It was a fun, challenging and exciting new world for us.



More People

The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child acknowledges the First Australian owners of the lands on where we gather and pay our respects to the Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits of this country.

The Centre recognises that the examples we set in diversity and inclusion will support young children to respect and celebrate differences in all people. We embed diversity, inclusivity and equality into all aspects of the Centre’s activities and welcome all people regardless of race, ethnicity, social background, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and national origin.